Page 36 of Strangers in Time

“Then I shall visit Charlie and make the required payment.”

“Is that the only reason you seek him out? To pay him his wage?” asked Oliver.

“Well, no, not the only reason. I think… we could be friends.”

“I believe you may well be right about that.”

“He looks like he might need a friend, actually,” noted Molly, glancing at Oliver hopefully.

“And if you permit me to say so, I think you may as well.”

“Thank you, Mr. Oliver. I hope that we shall meet again.”

“I am almost always here.”

She turned to the door but then looked back at him and held up the paper with Charlie’s name and address. “Why do you refer to Charlie as ‘Honorable’?”

“Because he has the potential to be,” replied Oliver. “As do we all.”

A SMALLKNIFEPOINT INTIME

AFTER A FILLING SUPPERat the church hall where Charlie devoured a custard tart and had a spoonful of Gran’s pudding, they walked back to their flat. Gran had been strangely reserved during the special meal, so Charlie knew that something was amiss.

Gran led Charlie into the front room and asked him to sit down. She would not meet his eye, which made Charlie fear what she was about to tell him.

She placed an aged hand on one of his bony knees. “There’s no easy way to say this, Charlie.”

“Are you s-sick, G-Gran?” he stammered.

“What? No, Charlie, no. I’m fine, luv. But thereissome… bad news. The thing is, the bake shop hasn’t been doing a’tall well. Can’t get enough to sell and when we do, folks don’t have the money to pay for it. And while I wasn’t made redundant or anything, my wages, well, my wages have been cut in half.”

“What does that mean?” said Charlie, though he knew it could mean nothing good.

“Well, for one thing it means we can’t stay here. We’re going to have to move.”

“Move where?” asked Charlie with dread in his tone.

“Well, I haven’t quite figured that out yet. I only learned of all this today. But people will help us, Charlie, I’m sure of it. And I think there is a ministry to assist folks with housing and the like. Now, we might have to go to a place where we’ll have to share with others, but there’ll be a roof over our heads. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“How much would it cost to stay here?”

She blanched. “Charlie, this is my problem to figure out and I will. Now, you just go off to bed and get a good night’s sleep. Things will look better in the morning.”

Gran rose and lumbered to her room while he hurried to his cupboard and lay in his box thinking all of this through and settling on a plan.

He didn’t even wait until Gran was asleep. He rose, exited quietly out the window, and skittered down the alley. He needed to get some money and do so quickly. His plan was to go to Molly’s house and see if she could give him the half crown. That was bound to help Gran. He hoped it wasn’t too late for him to visit her.

When he turned the corner, he stopped when he saw Lonzo and Eddie standing there. Lonzo had the butt of a cigarette in his mouth; thin wisps of smoke rose off it to join the fog that clustered around them, blurring their images.

A few moments later Lonzo ground the finished cigarette into the pavement with the heel of his thirdhand boot. His hands in his pockets, he stared at Charlie.

“We ’eard ’bout yer gran. Got her wages cut. What you gonna do?”

“I’m goin’ to get some money.”

“How?” This came from Eddie.

“Dunno yet,” Charlie lied. He didn’t want Lonzo anywhere near Molly Wakefield.

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